Spring Cleaning with Cleaner Options

Do you know what’s in your cleaning products? Toxic substances. Don’t waste money on cleaning products that are harmful to your body. Check out some of our alternative cleaning products to reduce your toxic load.

Unscented soap is great at cutting into grease and dirt of most sorts. With all the new product launches in recent years, we tend to forget that liquid soaps and traditional lye based soaps are the mother of all surface cleaning solutions. They are the oldest, safest, and most time tested of the cleaning agents. Remember you can use them to clean almost everything. To clean using liquid soap, get a small bucket and fill it with warm water and follow the dilution directions on the bottle. Be sure to re-saturate and wring your rag or cleaning tool with the sudsy water after cleaning a small area to avoid just moving the dirt around. After you are done, rinse your rag and cleanse the surface with just water to remove the left over soap and lifted dirt. To avoid extra chemicals look for unscented options.

Baking soda helps neutralize and disperse odors, pollutants, and dirt. Sprinkle it on a damp cloth and use it on kitchen counters, ovens, bathtubs and sinks.

You can use Hydrogen peroxide (3%) to clean and disinfect the bathroom. If you have bathroom mold on your tile grout mix one part hydrogen peroxide with two parts water in a spray bottle and spray on the affected areas. Hydrogen peroxide degrades quickly so every time you need it make a new batch.

Vinegar is great for addressing mildew and stains. Use it to clean the coffee pot or kettle if there are deposits that have built up on the inside. After soaking the kettle or coffee pot, empty them into the sink, refill with water, and run clean water through them a few times before normal use. For glass surfaces use a spray bottle with a 50/50 solution of vinegar and distilled water. Simply spray on and wipe off.